11/25/2025
We’d like to share with our membership and supporters that our APN Executive Director Trevor Rueger is moving on to other adventures and will be leaving his position in January 2026. After 19 years of leading APN, he is excited to be opening up a new chapter in his professional life. He will stay on to ease the transition for a new Executive Director and remains one of the many incredible members of this organization.
On behalf of the Board and myself, we are grateful and honoured to have worked with Trevor on the programs and services that APN offers to Alberta’s playwrights. His thoughtful approach, his kindness to all who encountered him, has been inspirational. Many of us playwrights would not be where we are without Trevor’s guidance and abilities as a dramaturge but also as a coach and mentor. I personally have benefited from his advocacy for my work and cannot begin to thank him. All these great attributes, however, were always tempered by his incredible good humour and a lot of jokes that kept me laughing. I and the Board are excited and supportive of Trevor’s next move and can’t wait to see what is in store for him next.
We will be posting the position on December 1 as we begin our search for our next great leader.
With thanks,
Tereasa Maillie
President, APN
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A message from Trevor.
Stepping Down
As we celebrated APN’s 40th Anniversary this year, I found that I became quite reflective. It has been my great honour to have been the Executive Director of this great organization since 2007. I had no idea that what started out as a short-term contract to help APN get through the 2006 PlayWorks INK Festival would turn into a 19-year tenure here.
I have enjoyed every moment (even the challenging ones), every board meeting (even the challenging ones), and every interaction I’ve had with playwrights (even the challenging ones). I feel blessed that artists from across the province have entrusted APN and myself in the development of their work and their artistry. I feel proud that I have been trusted by the playwriting and theatre community to manage and direct this vital organization.
I’m not riding off into the sunset, never to be heard from again. I expect to remain a part of the organization, albeit a much smaller part. I will be assisting in the transition to the new leadership, which is what the organization needs.
I had never imagined that this job would be the one that I would spend the bulk of my career at and now I can’t imagine my life without it. But it is time for a fresh outlook, new ideas, and a renewed passion to drive this organization for the next 40 years and I look forward to passing the baton to new leadership and assisting them any way that I can.
I thank everyone who paved the way for me, answered my calls, picked me up, and pushed me on.
Cheers,
Trevor
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From APN member (and previous board member) Linda Wood Edwards.
Dear Trevor:
It has come to my attention that you are moving on from Alberta Playwrights’ Network. Obviously, I wish you the best! I also want to make sure you know how important you (as well as APN) have been to me over the years. I am grateful that you’ve always been at the end of the phone, email, etc. when I’ve been at the end of my rope with a script. Your feedback was always thoughtful, generous, and trusted. I will miss it, along with the security blanket I assumed would always be there.
Apart from the support I received as a playwright, I thoroughly enjoyed working with you when I was on the APN Board. You are one of those people who really “got” boards and you managed your life as an executive director deftly and kindly, when board members didn’t always arrive with the same knowledge. You encouraged innovation and the result was many successes for APN. I believe you have stewarded the organization well in your tenure and I am proud to be a long-time member.
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From past President Neil Fleming:
What to say about Trevor Rueger? He is a whip-smart and clever collaborator, a dramaturg and/or dramaturge worth having in your back pocket. A must have for punching up any comedic script. Trevor is a perplexingly good drummer and a deceptively adequate golfer. I really like the way he addresses the ball at the tee box. He is confident and comfortable in his stance, he keeps his legs quite straight and his back with just the slightest tilt. A gentleman’s stance - not like some bent-kneed hockey goon winding up for a slap-shot. Trevor has a dignified swing. Straight and true. Like his dramaturgical advice. I owe Trevor a lot for making me look like a better writer than I was at the time, and a better person now.